They Just Knew
by meowerz
Summary: Curious of how the straw hat crew found out about their captain and their swordsman’s relationship? Come in and find out! Zolu.


Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, but I love them nevertheless

Summary: Though it seemed odd, the pirate crew just understood. (spare me if u wanna complain about my horrendous summarizing skills, Eng112 attempted to fix it, but only with the hallmarks of academic which obviously isn't suitable for this piece of work!)

Pairing: Zoro/Luffy

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_**They Just Knew**_

It was strange how the crew simply accepted the duo's relationship. For those who knew, during their moment of dawning realization, nobody was exclusively surprised.

The surprise was there, but mainly because it strangely seemed too natural –almost as if they've always known. It was simply accepted. Public discussion was avoided. That wasn't because they pretended that they didn't know or didn't care, but it was exactly because they knew and cared –they understood. In any case, it wasn't like anything else had changed. If the duo felt comfortable with it, and they obviously did, it didn't bother the rest of the crew.

The first time Nami saw it, she was a little surprised. After all, it wasn't everyday that she saw her boisterous captain quietly asleep within the arms of their impassive swordsman. Not to mention that said swordsman was _gently_ holding Luffy close, preventing the unpredictable captain from falling off the hemlock….on second thought, maybe there were other reasons for Zoro's touch besides saving their captain from meeting the floor. The initial shock immediately caused the navigator to glance towards the sharpshooter beside her. It seemed that the liar already knew. Upon seeing Usop's indifference, Nami decided that she didn't need to ask. Somehow, like Usop, she understood.

The second time Nami saw it, she was with the love cook. It was a little after lunch. The love cook had finished cleaning the dishes and was spoiling (pestering) Nami with an exquisite drink upon request. The two were standing by the handrail in front of Nami's ripening orange trees when they heard a loud thunk below them. Alerted, the two looked down, realizing that the noise was merely their captain falling on top of their swordsman –both asleep and slightly snoring. Finding the sight slightly cute, the two continued to watch and saw Zoro , still asleep, familiarly pulling the rubber boy closer, adjusting to a more comfortable position with Luffy face buried in Zoro's chest and Zoro's chin nestled on top of his captain's head. Being relatively new to the crew, Sanji dropped his cigarette. The cook's eyebrow's knotted a bit as he dug out another cigarette and lighted it. Smoke quickly hazed the onlooker's view, neither said a word.

The third time Nami saw, she didn't really feel anything anymore. Too bad the same couldn't be said for their doctor. Said reindeer merely pointed and stuttered after working out the reason to the abnormal intimacy between their captain and their swordsman. Blushing furiously, the reindeer quickly escaped with a squeak into his medic research chamber. This time, Nami laughed and Sanji smirked –they both saw the half open eyelid of the woken greenhead glaring incontinently towards the direction of Chopper's squirreling feet.

Nami never found out how Robin knew. The historian just kind of knew, like she did with all things. But it didn't matter who knew and in what way, everyone seemed to understand. Plus, besides Luffy jumping on top of his first mate all the time, nothing unbearably mushy or out of character was ever displayed publicly for the entire crew to see. The said couple never mentioned anything about it either, but the crew knew that the two wasn't hiding anything. Though not drop-dead obvious, the two still made it noticeable that it was there. And everyone accepted it without voice. Maybe that's what being a family meant. None of the pirate crew members grew up from happy whole families, but maybe it was exactly because of that, they treasured each other more, took the time to learn about each other better, hence easier for them to understand each other.

So a little while into the future, after the entire crew held a shared mutual understanding of the two's relationship, Nami suddenly thought of something. And on one ordinary day, nearing the end of an ordinary lavishing dinner done by their brilliant cook, with Zoro ever so ordinarily sitting beside their captain, Nami, with money in the betting pool, popped a not-so-ordinary question everyone wondered about.

"Luffy, Zoro…" upon hearing their names being addressed, the two questioningly looked up from their plates, Zoro with his fork and dinner knife still in hand and Luffy with his face stuffed the size of a birthday balloon.

Having taken part in the evil plan and thus knew what was coming, the entire crew was watching the mentioned couple with sparkling eyes betraying their interest.

Noticing the curious gazes and sensing danger, Zoro decided it was best to mentally prepare himself -Nami's expression was too sweet to be innocent. It was the one she gave whenever she had a scheme up her sleeves. Further recognizing the look, Zoro immediately felt a chill down his spin, cold sweat dampening his shirt.

"How long have you guys been together, really? And who initiated it?" Okay, so maybe it wasn't one question, but a couple of questions, but the point is, Nami finally asked what the crew had been wondering about for some time.

Upon hearing this, despite any prior preparation, Zoro's eye bulged out and flinched, choking helplessly on his food. Luffy looked a little confused before a tint of pink started to show on his cheek. Within seconds, both the future pirate king and his first mate turned into the colour of the night's tomato soup. Never seen the two this fascinatingly red before, it was the crew's turn to pop their eyes. Muffled and suppressed laughter escaped the crew's mouth, before they burst out laughing in perfect unison.

"Urusai!" Face beet red, the flustered swordsman yelled in attempt to cover his embarrassment while slamming his fist on top of the dinner table. The crew didn't pay any fear to Zoro's outburst, if anything, they laughed even harder. Luffy watched his happy crew laugh and scratched his pink cheek before he began to chuckle and then burst out laughing louder than the rest.

Seeing he's lover's reaction and not knowing what to do, a flushed Zoro abruptly got up from his seat. Going around the dinner table to evade Nami's grasp on the escaping swordsman, Zoro slammed the kitchen door behind him.

As soon as all laughter died down, five pairs of eyes stared expectantly straight at Luffy.

"So Luffy, when and who?" Nudged the navigator.

Blushing, the captain thought about the questions for a few thoughtful seconds and scratched his head once more, spreading his infamous large grin.

"Hm…..I don't know, we just kinda knew," said the smiling captain before he too, got up from his seat and followed his swordsman out the kitchen door.

Not expecting this kind of answer, the remaining crew fell silent at the dinner table, a tad surprised.

"Well…"grinned the navigator, breaking the silence, "I guess nobody wins this round."

And with those words, the crew of Going Merry wrapped up their dinner and went back to their happy ordinary day.

Owari...

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Urusai: along the line of "shut up" or "you're annoying" 

Author's Note: This is my first fanfic, so I'd like to know how I did. Be nice and review please


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